Tajik Official Says Female Teachers Threatened In Anonymous Letter

RASHT, Tajikistan -- Local officials say an anonymous letter demanding female teachers quit their jobs or face death has been left at a school in the eastern Tajik district of Rasht, a former stronghold of the Islamic opposition in the Central Asian nation.

Vandals who left the threatening letter at the Kamarob village school over the weekend also burned two maps of Tajikistan and school news bulletins, village chief Rahmatjon Salimov said on April 20.

"The letter says it's the final warning to female teachers to quit within a month or face severe consequences," Salimov said. He said the letter included a death threat.

Police declined to comment.

The security situation in Rasht has remained volatile for more than a decade after a national peace accord that formally ended Tajikistan's civil war in 1997.

In 2010, at least 20 soldiers were killed in a militant attack on a military convoy in Kamarob.

That attack led to a massive counterterrorist operation in the area that lasted for several months.

RFE/RL's Tajik Service attracts a young, influential audience with its timely, locally focused reporting. The government's continued vigor in controlling politics and media has lent further impetus to Radio Ozodi's trusted coverage.